After a warm up this weekend and another one next week, a blast of cold will return to the Ohio Valley to start off April.

The GFS ensembles day to day over the next 16 days show the cool down starting around April 1st and continuing right into the 10th. (Map from WeatherBell)

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These maps show the forecast departure from normal temps.

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You can see a bit of a warm up this weekend, then cooling and then a big warm up mid-week followed by the big drop in temperature. You have to wonder if there will be a severe weather outbreak with the switch from warm to cold.Nothing is set in stone, but this is certainly worth watching.

The operational GFS is even colder by early April with temps at least 15 degrees below normal in the Ohio Valley to 25 degrees below normal across Minnesota..

The other computer models are not as aggressive as the GFS, but as we all know, sometimes March Madness weather and continue into April.

The worst case of cold after warm was in 2007.

Louisville had 6 days in the 80's at the end of March. During early April, an extreme cold period hit the region.Louisville had several nights in a row in the 20's and the suburbs had 3 nights in a row in the teens.On April 7, the high in Louisville was only 37 degrees.Keeneland in Lexington had snow for opening day.

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The results were devastating for agriculture with losses well over 100 million dollars in the region. Many homeowners lost bushes and trees due to the extreme cold after the extreme warmth early in the growing season.

The NWS in Louisville lists the 2007 freeze as the 19th biggest weather story ever in their coverage area.

Hopefully if we do get the April chill it will be nowhere near as bad as 2007.